Kabuto

"Esteemed ninja from Konoha, I am Ryuzan, the person responsible for receiving you distinguished guests. This is my assistant, Tama. Your rooms are ready. Please follow me." A slight, middle-aged Iwagakure ninja stepped before Xing Ran and the other two, took over from the Anbu man, and led them toward the upper floors of the earthen building.

Beside the Iwagakure ninja who called himself Ryuzan stood a white-haired boy wearing round glasses. He looked refined and proper, standing about one and a half meters tall, though his childish face revealed that he was still very young. He merely stood beside Ryuzan with a friendly smile and said nothing.

The rooms prepared for them were a three-bedroom suite with a living room. There was a reason for this arrangement. Ninja rarely traveled alone, and staying separately made it easy for enemies to defeat them one by one. Thus, to avoid awkwardness, every nation used this sort of suite when accommodating ninja from other powers.

The reception staff this time were clearly far more professional. They first introduced themselves with smiles, giving people the feeling of a spring breeze. Though these ninja only appeared to handle reception work, their intelligence-gathering and counterespionage abilities were first-rate. When receiving foreign visitors, they would draw out information through conversation, observe expressions and behavior, analyze the reliability of that intelligence, and so on.

Sometimes, they even had to recruit defectors. The real ninja world was not an anime. The female ninja here all had methods of seducing others to obtain intelligence, and when necessary, using their beauty was entirely commonplace.

"..." Xing Ran had remained silent ever since seeing the Iwagakure reception staff. It was not as though he expected anyone to seduce him.

If one looked carefully, it was obvious that Xing Ran was particularly concerned about the child named Tama.

As Xing Ran's Anbu companions, the other two had long noticed that something was off with him. After the Iwagakure reception staff left the suite assigned to the three of them, Junpei spoke up and asked, "Xing Ran, what's wrong? Is there something suspicious about those two Iwagakure ninja?"

Junpei was somewhat nervous. His mind, a little more impulsive than Yamaki Atsushi's, had no idea how many scenarios it had already imagined.

What worried Junpei most was Xing Ran suddenly saying that he had seen that middle-aged ninja called Ryuzan during the massacre of his entire team. If that happened, the matter would be serious. Iwagakure's attack on Konoha would be confirmed, and another war would become unavoidable.

As for why he did not suspect the boy, Junpei thought that Iwagakure would not be foolish enough to send such a small child on that kind of mission.

Children like Kakashi, who could go to war and make a name for themselves, were exceedingly rare. Most children who went to the battlefield were simply sent to their deaths.

"There's no problem. What are you thinking? You don't seriously believe Iwagakure would have someone who carried out an interception mission against us come receive us, do you? Only an idiot like you could think of something that stupid." Xing Ran froze slightly, then quickly realized that he had been acting strangely. Seeing Junpei's tense and worried expression, his mind raced. Once he understood what Junpei was worried about, he smiled, shot back at him, and conveniently changed the subject.

"Then what were you thinking about just now? Your expression was so serious. It couldn't have been anything minor." Yamaki Atsushi was not led astray by Xing Ran's attempt to change the subject.

"..." Xing Ran felt somewhat helpless, and he began to realize something. Setting aside the period when they encountered the attack, the two of them rarely communicated with each other at other times. Most of the time, they acted in unison—more accurately, they acted in unison around him.

Could these two Anbu have been sent by the Hokage to monitor me in addition to carrying out this diplomatic mission? As the sole survivor of the destroyed team, the possibility of being turned by the enemy is very high. Xing Ran did not dare think further. Konoha looked glamorous on the surface, but there was plenty of darkness behind the scenes. It was understandable that they did not trust him. No wonder the Third Hokage had told him so much inexplicable nonsense about the Will of Fire.

When Xing Ran suddenly fell silent, not only did Yamaki Atsushi stare at him, but even Junpei, who had just been led off-topic and was about to defend himself, turned his attention back to Xing Ran.

"We've entered Iwagakure now, which means the main part of the mission has officially begun. Before we left, Lord Hokage instructed me to convey the idea of peace to the Tsuchikage as both a witness and the sole survivor, ensuring the hard-won peace between our two nations. While we were traveling, I had to remain alert at all times as a Sensor Ninja. Now that we've reached a relatively safe place, it is time to carefully consider the wording related to the mission. That's why I was a little distracted just now." Xing Ran knew he could not avoid this. He definitely could not tell the two of them what he had really been thinking. Superman's brain raced, and within a few breaths, he came up with a lofty explanation.

Sure enough, after hearing Xing Ran's explanation, the Konoha Anbu pair visibly relaxed. After encouraging each other to keep it up, the three returned to their respective rooms and went to sleep.

But how many of them truly slept was anyone's guess. Xing Ran's X-ray vision easily revealed that although the two Anbu had each lain down on their beds, both were occupied with their own thoughts.

Xing Ran soon began thinking about his own concerns as well.

That boy just now! He had to be Yakushi Kabuto.

White hair, round glasses, refined manners, and a very friendly impression.

When Xing Ran first saw Yakushi Kabuto beside Ryuzan, a monstrous wave rose in his heart, and he nearly cried out. Children in the ninja world generally developed early. At this point in time, he was not even ten this year, yet he had already grown to around one and a half meters tall. If not for another person who felt familiar to Xing Ran appearing here alongside him, Xing Ran would never have connected Tama with Yakushi Kabuto.

That was it. That female Iwagakure Anbu who gave off such an approachable feeling was Yakushi Nonō. At first, she had not been wearing glasses, so Xing Ran truly had not recognized her. But when Kabuto and Nonō appeared in the same place, Xing Ran quickly realized who they were. Although the two looked different from how they had in the story, they were still recognizable.

It was now Konoha 50. Itachi and Gekko Hayate graduated from the Ninja Academy this year, but another major event also occurred that same year: Kabuto turned dark, was recruited by Orochimaru into Otogakure, and was later placed in Konoha as a spy, officially changing his name from Kabuto to Yakushi Kabuto.

According to official information from Xing Ran's previous life, Yakushi Kabuto graduated from the Ninja Academy at the age of ten in Konoha Year 51. In the original television storyline, Kabuto was deceived by Danzo into leaving his adoptive mother, Yakushi Nonō, to become a spy, a job he did for five years. Judging by Kabuto's height at the time, he had only been four or five years old. Combining these details, the period when Danzo arranged for Kabuto and his adoptive mother Yakushi Nonō to assassinate each other was this year, when Kabuto was still under ten.

To be continued. Please recommend.